Gabriella's Choice
by Terra-Machigai
Summary: Troy and Gabriella seem to be the perfect couple. Ryan wishes that they weren't together. Troyella Ryella. Kind of Ryancentric, but not totally. Rated T just in case.
1. Troyella Forever?

Chapter 1: Troyella Forever?

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical.

Ryan sat with his face leaning on his hands, as Ms. Darbus droned on about how they should view the first day of school as an opportunity to learn. He subconsciously glanced back at Gabriella. She was obviously smiling at Troy. He quickly faced forward, accidentally knocking his pencil case to the floor. He had forgotten to close it, so pencils, pens, and other supplies were all over the floor. He blushed and began picking up the utensils. Sharpay rolled her eyes at him.

Gabriella, who had not noticed Ryan glance at her, jumped at the sound of the case hitting the floor. She rushed to help him pick everything up.

"Thanks," muttered Ryan, after they had picked everything up.

"No problem, Ry," Gabriella smiled.

"Hey, there's a singing contest in a month, do you want to enter?" Ryan asked.

"That's a great idea!" complimented Gabriella. Ryan's face lit up. "I'll enter with Troy!" His face fell.

_That's not exactly what I meant,_ he thought. When Gabriella looked up at him, he fake smiled, and they both returned to their seats. The bell rang, and all the students were checking their schedules and exiting the room.

Troy and Gabriella had the same first period class, so they walked together. "Hey, Troy, Ryan told me about a singing contest. Do you want to enter it?"

"With you? Of course," confirmed Troy. "Do you want to come over tonight? We can decide on a song, and my mom is making spaghetti."

"I can't resist your mom's spaghetti," laughed Gabriella. They entered the classroom, still laughing.

"You are…?" Mrs. McLon, their new teacher questioned, as the couple entered the room.

They both stopped laughing, and Troy answered, "Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez." There were assigned seats, so Troy and Gabriella were far away from each other, not even being able to see the other.

After the class, Gabriella scampered over to Troy. "I hope that second period is more fun. What do you have?" she whispered, so that the teacher didn't hear her.

"Chemistry," replied Troy.

"Aw… I have history," Gabriella kissed his cheek, and left the room, she didn't need to walk with him, considering the fact that the history classroom was right next to the one that she just left. Troy quickly gathered up his things and left the room after his girlfriend.

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. Please review!


	2. Partner Changes

**A/N: Thanks, IncandescentAngel and Lennie1984 for reviewing. I think that it will end Ryella, but I'm not totally sure that it will.**

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical.

Ryan entered the cafeteria for lunch and looked at his sister. Her lunch table was full of gossiping girls, and there was no room for him. _I'd rather sit with Gabriella, anyway,_ he thought. He looked around for her, but didn't spot the girl that he was looking for. He decided to look for other familiar faces, spotted Kelsi, and sat with her.

"Hey, Kelsi, what's up?" he asked, as he sat down.

"I heard about a singing contest, so I think that I'll write a song for Troy and Gabriella. I'll ask them if they can enter, later, I guess," replied Kelsi. She took a bite of her meatloaf.

"Oh," Ryan muttered. He started eating his sandwich. _No matter where I go, there's always **something** about Troy and Gabriella._ When Gabriella entered the cafeteria Ryan smiled, and waved her over. She grinned back, and accepted the invitation to sit with Ryan and Kelsi.

"Ryan, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" questioned Gabriella.

"Uh… okay," replied Ryan.

"If you had a girlfriend, would you go to a basketball game instead of singing with her?" Gabriella asked.

"Considering the fact that I don't play basketball…" he said.

"You know what I mean," laughed Gabriella.

"I'd definitely sing with her. Why? Is there a basketball game the day of the singing contest and Troy wants to sing with you, but you're worried about his team? Don't be, it's just one game," Ryan comforted.

"Uh… sort of, except Troy wants to play the game," answered Gabriella. Ryan hated himself, but he felt excited in addition to shock. He tried to only look surprised, though.

Troy entered the cafeteria. "Maybe you two could enter the contest together," suggested Kelsi. Gabriella gave an unsure glance up at Troy who had seen her, and was walking over to their table. "I'd write a song for you."

_Say yes,_ Ryan thought. _C'mon please say yes. Why is it taking so long for her to reply?_

"That's a great idea, Kelsi," Gabriella had waited until Troy was within earshot.

_Yes!_ Ryan couldn't help but smile. _She just wanted Troy to hear. _Kelsi and Gabriella looked at him, awaiting his answer, and he shrugged. "I'm okay with it."

"What's the idea?" Troy asked, as he sat down next to Gabriella.

Ryan replied, "Gabriella and I are gonna sing together. I'm finally going to sing alone with someone other than my sister." He smiled innocently, as though the fact that Gabriella was not Sharpay was the only reason that he was happy.

"What? No, I-I'm skipping the basketball game. _I'm_ singing with Gabriella," decided Troy. Gabriella looked discouraged, but Ryan managed to hide his disappointment. "Do you actually _want_ to sing with him?" Gabriella quickly took a bite of her salad. Troy didn't take his eyes off of her, as he started eating his sandwich.

After taking as much time chewing the vegetables in her mouth as she could, Gabriella decided that she had to answer Troy's question, "I just thought it might be fun."

"And it's not fun to sing with me?" Troy seemed very hurt by her statement.

"That's not what I meant," defended Gabriella. "I just…" She looked at Ryan who had finished his lunch. Feeling uncomfortable, he picked up his empty lunch bag and water bottle and walked over to the garbage can and recycling bin. "In the future, I might have to sing with other people, so I might as well not only be used to singing with you…" Gabriella was not going to mention that she had wanted to sing with Ryan for a little while, nor that she wanted to sing with him specifically. "But since you're going to sing with me, it doesn't really matter why I was going to sing with Ryan." Ryan who had spent as much time as he could at the garbage can, returned to the table.

Troy sighed, "Nah, I'm going to play basketball. Enter with Ryan." Gabriella felt hurt yet excited.

"Cool," Ryan smiled. "So Gabriella, do you want to come over tonight? Sharpay's going out to dinner with Zeke, and I thought that we could have dinner and just sing a couple songs or something…"

"Sorry, Ryan, but I told Troy that I'd have dinner with him tonight," Gabriella sounded just a bit annoyed. Ryan was the only one who noticed this though. She sounded excited while saying the next sentence, though. "Kelsi will probably have our song done soon, and then we can practice that."


	3. A song and a sister

**A/N: Thank you IncandescentAngel and Pinkitty for reviewing!**

The next day at school, Kelsi ran up to Ryan when she saw him in the hallway, "Hey, Ryan, I finished the song."

"Really?" Ryan took the paper that Kelsi was holding out to him. "Thanks Kelsi, you're awesome."

"Will you give this to Gabriella?" she handed him Gabriella's part.

"Okay," he quickly wrote his name on his part and Gabriella's name on hers. "Thanks again Kelsi, but I have to go. Ms. Darbus will freak out, if I'm late."

"See ya," Kelsi waved, and she and Ryan headed off to their homeroom classes.

"Ryan, you were almost late!" Ms. Darbus irritably marked him present.

"Sorry, Ms. Darbus," apologized Ryan, and he gave Gabriella the song that Kelsi had wrote for them. "Kelsi already finished the song."

"Uh… Ryan, this is your part," Gabriella giggled.

"Oh, uh…" Ryan fumbled around with his books until he found the paper that he was actually supposed to give to Gabriella. She smiled and handed him back his part. Ryan walked as fast as he could back to his seat.

Troy gave Ryan an annoyed look. He was still a bit uncomfortable that Gabriella had decided to sing with Ryan. Well… he couldn't let down his team and miss a game, but he wished that Gabriella would just sing alone. That's one thing that he didn't like about Gabriella. If she couldn't do something with Troy, she wouldn't do it alone. She'd do it with Taylor or Chad or _Ryan_. He didn't mind her hanging out with Taylor or Chad, but Ryan… he was different. He was different around Gabriella than when he was around anyone else. Troy wasn't sure if he was just paranoid, or if Ryan actually had a crush on Gabriella.

Ryan saw Troy's annoyed look. He raised his eyebrows. Troy pretended that he had been looking at Ms. Darbus, who was then ranting about how singing is a "wonderful form of self-expression". Ryan felt a rush of excitement. _Is Troy annoyed because Gabriella likes me? _he thought. _No, Troy's just being irrational, like I just was._ He told himself that a couple of times, but he couldn't hide his little spark of hope.

Sharpay's eyes widened. Ryan had a crush on Gabriella… she could tell, she knew these things. If Gabriella broke up with Troy and started dating Ryan, then she could have Troy. Ryan noticed his sister looking at him, and all color drained from his face. _I'm not helping Sharpay,_ he told himself, firmly. _Whatever she's doing, I'm not going to be a part of it._ Although he had seemed confident while standing up to his sister, he was just a bit uncomfortable doing it. He gave her a convincing "stop whatever you're doing" look. She purposefully overdid her innocent look.

Ryan rolled his eyes. He had enough problems without his sister. He was hoping that she was just thinking that he could tell Troy that she was amazing, which she had asked him to do a couple of times, but he never really did it anymore. _No, it's different today,_ her look told Ryan that Sharpay had a plan… and she probably wanted his help for it. _I'll just say no, _he said to himself. The bell rang, and he left the class as fast as he could so that Sharpay couldn't make him stop and talk to her. He glanced back, though, and noticed that she had not even tried to talk to her, she was chatting with Gabriella. _This can't be good._

"So, you're gonna sing with my brother?" questioned Sharpay.

"Yeah," Gabriella nodded. " Troy's… uh… busy on the day of the contest."

"Do you _like_ Ryan?" asked Sharpay.

"He's a great friend," Gabriella smiled nervously, not wanting to answer the intended question and walked away with Troy. _She doesn't know. She can't._

"Hi," Troy muttered, but Gabriella pretended not to hear him and didn't reply.

_Wow, she does!_ Sharpay smiled and walked out of the classroom.


	4. Surprises with Ryan and Gabriella

**A/N: Thank you, hsmgal142, IncandescentAngel, looney4rooney, and wchsgirl2121 for reviewing! **

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical.

Ryan and Gabriella were the first to get to the lunchroom, so they sat together. "I can't believe how fast Kelsi can write songs," Ryan said, as he sat down next to Gabriella. "I haven't really read the song yet, but I was hoping that we could read it together." He took his copy of Kelsi's song out of his lunch bag.

"She called it 'Forever'," observed Gabriella. She read the lyrics, but didn't sing them yet, "It's not called love at first sight. I never thought that you and I could be friends. But now I've realized maybe we could be something more."

"Is she crazy?!" Ryan's voice was too loud. Teens at nearby tables gave him weird looks. He blushed. "Well… she wrote a love song for us… Um… don't you think that's a little…?"

"Ryan," Gabriella giggled. "Just because we sing a romantic song doesn't mean that we're in a romantic relationship. Unless…" She leaned forward, her face really close to his. Then, she blushed, realized what she was doing and quickly backed away. Ryan's face was red and frozen. "You love the person who you're singing with, which we… uh…" Gabriella wasn't sure what to say. "Hey, Sharpay!" She didn't really care who she called over, it just had to be somebody.

Ryan's face unfroze, as his sister walked over to the table. "Hey, sis, what were you talking to Gabriella about before?" He both wanted to know and to change the subject.

"Well, I was just double-checking that I had to find a new partner," Sharpay couldn't help but sound a little bit disappointed. She couldn't sing with Ryan and if Troy wouldn't sing with Gabriella, he wouldn't sing with anybody. "But see, there's a question that Gabriella didn't understand."

"What?" questioned Ryan.

"G-girl stuff," muttered Gabriella.

"You two talk about 'girl stuff' together?" Ryan was surprised that his sister talked about such personal things with the girl who was dating the guy that she liked. "Um… I'd rather not know the question. So Sharpay, who're you going to sing with?"

"You're allowed to sing alone," Sharpay reminded him. "And…" she blushed, "Zeke isn't into singing." Ryan smirked. _They'll beat me,_ thought Sharpay. _I need a really good partner, or else I'll never win._ Troy walked over to their table.

"Ryan, will you move?" requested Troy, impolitely. "Remember she's _my_ girlfriend."

"Uh… sure," Ryan moved over a seat. _How could I forget?_ " Troy, did you think I was so stupid that I forgot that you were dating Gabriella?" Troy was surprised with Ryan's question. It was an act, Ryan knew that Troy was jealous, but he couldn't let anyone know that.

"You have a bad memory," explained Troy.

"Yeah, he does," Sharpay agreed.

" Troy, be nicer to Ryan," Gabriella's firm tone surprised everyone.

"No," replied Troy. "I don't have to do what you tell me to." Before Gabriella could reply, Ryan punched Troy right in the face. Ryan had acted without thinking. He bit his lip, closed his eyes, and was prepared to get hit. Surprisingly, Troy didn't even try to punch Ryan. Ryan reluctantly opened his eyes. Troy gave Ryan an angry look, before turning to Gabriella. "Gab, we're over." He got up and moved over to a table with other Wildcat basketball players including Chad and Zeke.

**A/N: Sorry that the chapter is so short, but I wanted to end it with the break up.**


	5. Blaming and Giggling

**A/N: Thank you IncandescentAngel, kizkool, and looney4rooney for reviewing. **

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or "It Takes Two" from Hairspray.

" Troy," it was too late, Gabriella spoke after Troy was out of earshot. "Ryan!" Ryan knew that this was coming, right after he punched Troy. Gabriella was angry at him, and she had a right to be.

"Look, I wasn't thinking. Troy was being really mean to you," Ryan weakly attempted to defend himself. Gabriella ignored him, and didn't speak for a long time. _I thought that I'd be happy when Troy and Gabriella broke up. I feel terrible, and maybe it's because it's my fault._ After a while, Ryan decided that he should apologize, "Gabriella, I'm sorry. Do you want me to talk to Troy for you?"

"No. He was just as bad as you," replied Gabriella. Ryan felt even worse than he already did. He didn't want to make Gabriella feel any worse, so he was quiet too.

"I can't believe it," Sharpay thought out loud. This brought Ryan and Gabriella back to earth. They hadn't noticed that the other was doing so, but they had been glancing at each other while they were silent.

Gabriella decided to speak, "What can't you believe?"

Sharpay bit her lip, _Troy__ and you broke up. _"Your nails look so pretty, I can't believe how great they look."

"Oh, thanks," muttered Gabriella, evidently disappointed. She wasn't sure what she had expected, but definitely something more exciting than Sharpay complimenting her nails. Although she normally would've caught the lie, Gabriella was so depressed that she wasn't thinking straight.

She felt different than she usually did, when she broke up with Troy. This was the first time that _Troy_ had ever broken up with _her_. It was usually her who did the breaking up. She felt more hurt this time and kind of out-of-it. Gabriella, who wasn't sure what to do, blamed Ryan. Had she not loved him, Troy and she might've stayed together. Plus, his punch didn't help the argument.

Usually, a boy would be happy that his crush was single, but that wasn't the deal with Ryan. He had kept Troy and Gabriella together to keep Gabriella happy, and then he just ruined it. He sighed, and was thankful when the bell to end lunch rang, so that he didn't have to be with Gabriella anymore. Unfortunately, Troy was in his next class, so he received many snickers and angry looks from Troy and his friends.

After school, Gabriella had basically cleared up her thoughts, and wanted to make things right with Ryan. She waited at his car, and was surprised that he didn't come out immediately. After 10 minutes of waiting, and trying to think of the right words to say, she decided that he must be in the auditorium. She re-entered the school and walked into the auditorium. She heard Ryan singing "It Takes Two".

_"Tell me, I'm your king and you're my queen. That no one else can come between. It takes two, baby, It takes two,"_ Ryan sang.

Gabriella just listened to his soothing voice for a moment, and then called out, "Hey, Ryan!"

He turned to face his one-girl audience, smiled, and blushed, "Hey Gabby." Then, he remembered lunch, and frowned. "You're not here to yell, are you? I get enough from Sharpay."

"Well, I might yell… You're not practicing our song, Ryan Evans!" Gabriella giggled, as she ran up to the stage.

Ryan smiled again, "We're still going to do it?" Gabriella nodded, and hugged him. "By the way, I'm really sorry for punching Troy." _He's the only person I've ever punched. Violence usually isn't my thing._

Gabriella made it evident in her expression that she did not want to talk about her ex-boyfriend, so Ryan changed the subject, "I have my copy of 'Forever'," he rummaged in his pockets, and pulled out the paper.

"Me too," Gabriella found the paper in one of her pockets. "So, you're okay with singing a romantic song with me?"

_OF COURSE! I've wanted to for a long time._ "Uh… I guess," Ryan grinned at Gabriella, who returned his smile.

**A/N: Next chapter will by Ryan and Gabriella singing together:-)**


	6. Forever

**A/N: Thanks IncandescentAngel, looney4rooney, kizkool, Kitty-Witty-Kate, Lennie1984, and Maria-Lilly Kon for reviewing. Thank you so much for the compliments. You guys are great! J **

**Here is my (feeble) attempt to write song lyrics, you can make up the tune, while you're reading, I guess. And I'm sorry that the song is so short. **

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical.

_"It's not called love at first sight. I never thought that you and I could be friends. But now I've realized maybe we could be something more. You cared… though I didn't expect you to. You were there… when no one else was," _they sang in unison.

_"Forever…"_ sang Gabriella.

While Ryan sang, _"That's how long I'll be here. Forever…" _

_"I'll hold you dear. I never…" _Gabriella was lost in the song. Kelsi had written the words, but she felt as though Ryan was singing what he truly felt… and perhaps she was too.

_"Wanna be without you, so forever…"_ Ryan felt the energy of the song too.

_"My love will be true forever," _they sang together. Gabriella took Ryan's hand, and they started dancing.

They both sang,_ "I've denied that I loved you. I'm so pressured not to. But I just can't help it. You're too amazing.…" _

_"Forever…" _

_"That's how long I'll be here. Forever…" _

_"I'll hold you dear. I never…" _

_"Wanna be without you, so forever…" _

_"My love will be true forever. Oh yeah… My love will be true forever."_

"Wow," muttered Ryan, after they had finished singing the song.

"Ryan… you…" Gabriella bit her lip.

"Yes?" Ryan questioned.

"Um… I don't know why, but you sounded better than you normally do," replied Gabriella, blushing. "Have you been trying extra hard in your voice lessons?"

"Yeah. Plus, I'm warmed up and it's easier to sing without Sharpay pressuring me to be perfect," answered Ryan. "It's kind of weird, but I mess up less, if I'm not trying not to mess up as much."

Gabriella giggled a little bit, "Well, you're less nervous. I hope that you'll sound like this at the concert… Then, we'll definitely win."

"You didn't sound too bad yourself," complimented Ryan. "And you're a phenomenal dancer, why don't you dance more often?"

"Well, I take dancing lessons. That's where I rush off to on Thursdays," Gabriella explained. She didn't want to mention that Troy didn't dance very well, so he was embarrassed to dance with her. _I can't think about Troy,_ she told herself, firmly. 

"I have solved the mystery!" announced Ryan geekily (I know that it's not a word).

"Ryan," Gabriella chuckled, as she gave him a playful shove.

"Oh, so that's how you wanna play?" he smiled at her, mischievously. Gabriella looked confused and a little bit afraid. Then, Ryan started tickling her. She laughed hysterically._ Oh man, I love her laugh._

"Ryan, stop," laughed Gabriella in a way that showed that she didn't mean what she said. "C'mon, I'm sorry." Ryan stopped tickling her. "I'm like the most ticklish person in the world."

"You can't expect to be a wonderful singer and dancer _and_ be really smart and not have some sort of weakness," joked Ryan. Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Hey, do you need a ride home?"

"Oh my gosh, my mom's going to freak out, when I don't come off my bus!" Gabriella whipped out her cell phone and called her mother. "Hey mom, I missed my bus, so Ryan's going to drop me off at home."

"Okay Gabriella, but why won't Troy drive you home?" questioned her mother, who thought that Troy was a very nice boy.

"We… aren't together anymore," Gabriella whispered. "Bye, Mom." She hung up without waiting for her mother to reply. "Okay, well, um… let's go."

"Yeah," muttered Ryan. They walked off of the stage, and got their backpacks. When they were almost to his car, Ryan asked, "Who is your math teacher?"

"Mrs. McLon. She's not very interesting," replied Gabriella. They reached the car and got into the drivers and passengers seat.

"I have her too. I might need a math tutor because she doesn't seem like she'll help me understand concepts," Ryan admitted.

"I'll be glad to help you, if you don't understand something," Gabriella smiled at him.


	7. Moving On

**A/N: Thanks kitty-witty-kate, Destenys Angel Pyra, kizkool, and looney4rooney for reviewing.**

Disclaimer: I do **not** own High School Musical.

"That's good to know because I'll probably need a lot of help in math," stated Ryan.

"How do you like your other teachers?" asked Gabriella.

Ryan shrugged, "My science teacher is funny, so he's cool, I guess."

"I like my reading and language arts teacher. She's really creative and seems to love the subject. I think that I'll be able to stay up for my other classes, but I'm not so sure about math," Gabriella fake yawned.

"You'd better be able to help me!" Although this was sort of a joke, Ryan was also serious about this. If Gabriella didn't explain the math stuff to him, he would have no chance. He'd be like a soldier in a bright uniform running into the center of the battlefield, unprotected. "Well, here's your house. See you tomorrow!"

"Okay, bye Ryan," mumbled Gabriella. She clumsily exited the car and waved to Ryan. "Thank you so much!"

"Anytime!" he called. Right before entering the door, Gabriella turned around, smiled, and waved one last time to Ryan.

_I don't know what I'd do without her;_ Ryan waited until Gabriella had entered her house and closed the door to start up his car. _Well, I'd better go home._ Ryan was satisfied with how Gabriella and he had sight-read "Forever". It sounded pretty good, but he wanted to make sure that he didn't think that Gabriella sounded better than she actually did because he… liked her. _She's wonderful; Ms. Darbus wouldn't choose Gabriella over Sharpay unless she was really good._

Gabriella threw her unbearably heavy backpack onto her bedroom floor. She sighed and watched Ryan's car pull away. _I think that Ryan might feel the same way,_ she thought. _The way he sang like he was singing to me._ She shook her head and unzipped her backpack. _We really shouldn't have so much homework the first week of school._ After laying her binder on her desk, she began her homework.

The next day at school, instead of sitting next to Troy in homeroom like she usually did, Gabriella sat next to Ryan. He had a few questions on the math homework from the previous night. Taylor noticed Gabriella sitting with Ryan, and wasn't sure what was happening. Gabriella hadn't told anyone that Troy had broken up with her yet, so Taylor was confused. She walked over to Troy.

"Hey, Troy," greeted Taylor.

"Hey," Troy muttered, without glancing up from the book he was reading. It was a biography of many different famous basketball players.

"Why isn't Gabriella sitting next to you?" Taylor asked.

"We broke up," replied Troy, making it obvious that he did not want to continue the conversation.

"See you," Taylor waved slightly and walked back to her seat next to Chad. _I wonder if Sharpay will still chase Troy. … No, she wouldn't do that to Zeke… would she? I don't think so, but I guess only time will tell._ It didn't take too much time for Taylor to make an opinion because Sharpay skipped over to Troy's seat soon after Taylor sat down.

"Hey, Troy," Sharpay smiled widely.

"Where's Zeke?" questioned Troy, eager to get rid of the chipper girl. He bitterly thought, _First, Taylor came over, now Sharpay, next Kelsi will walk in and come talk to me!_

"Oh, he's talking to Jason about basketball," answered Sharpay.

Troy sighed, "How about you go talk to… Taylor?"

"Um… okay," Sharpay's smile disappeared. "Whatever." _He's not ready for other girls yet, I guess…_ She glanced inconspicuously at her brother and the girl sitting next to him. _But Gabriella didn't have any trouble moving on. _She returned to her seat, not taking Troy's suggestion of talking to Taylor, but instead, listening to Zeke's conversation with Jason about basketball. They were now debating whether a court was allowed to be 1 foot longer or shorter than the standard size, or if it had to be exact. Sharpay couldn't wait to be dismissed to first period.

"Okay, so if you multiply an even amount of negatives, the product turns into a positive?" questioned Ryan.

"Yeah, so you need to try the second, third, and sixth problems again, remembering that," Gabriella told him.

"Alright, thanks so much, Gabriella," Ryan smiled at her, but his smile quickly disappeared when he looked down at his math worksheet.


	8. A More Enjoyable Lunch

**A/N: Thanks looney4rooney, BlackDragon733, and kizkool for reviewing. **

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical.

Ryan reluctantly entered the lunchroom. He hoped that Sharpay would not sit with him and Gabriella. Knowing Sharpay, he thought that she would not like that Ryan was spending so much time with someone else. Luckily, Ryan saw her sitting with Zeke, so he cheerfully strode over to where Kelsi and Gabriella were sitting.

"Hey Gabby!" Ryan greeted. "Hey Kelsi."

"Hi Ryan," both girls simultaneously replied.

"Gabriella told me that you guys sang the song I wrote. I'm sorry for making it romantic, but I thought that it would be a cool song for you guys to sing together," explained Kelsi. "You didn't exactly like each other when you first met, but now you're friends. So… it kind of fits your relationship a little bit." _Not to mention that you're very cute together._

"Well, I love the song, Kelsi. You're a great songwriter," Gabriella complimented.

"Actually, Ryan… well, no offense, but I didn't really like you last year. You always followed Sharpay around, and she wasn't very kind to me. This year, you're so much nicer," Kelsi told him.

"Well, thank you. I find my independence quite enjoyable," Ryan chuckled. "I have to go buy lunch. I'll be right back." Ryan hopped on the lunch line. Sure, he could afford a much better lunch than cafeteria food, but he liked eating the cafeteria food because it made him feel like he was fitting in. He wasn't completely sure why, but buying cafeteria food was a normal thing to do, so he felt normal doing it. He watched Gabriella as she talked to Kelsi. _Wow, Gabriella is so beautiful,_ he thought.

"Hey, Ryan!" a familiar voice brought Ryan back to Earth.

"T-Troy," Ryan forced himself to smile. "H-how're you doing?"

Troy rolled his eyes, "Just stop daydreaming and move up." Ryan looked ahead of him, confused. Then, he realized that he had lost track of time while watching Gabriella, and hastily stumbled up to the person in front of him.

Meanwhile, Gabriella and Kelsi were talking about the upcoming singing competition. "Kelsi, can you accompany us, live?" requested Gabriella.

"Sure," Kelsi consented. "It's in the auditorium, so I'll use the school piano. Ryan knows tons of good warm-up exercises, so when you need to warm up, you can ask him for help. You did learn a few from Sharpay, but he knows a _lot_ more."

"I'm so excited," Gabriella giggled. "I think that we might win. Do you think that I'm being too confident?"

"Maybe a little bit, but there's no denying that you and Ryan are both wonderful singers," answered Kelsi.

"D-do you think that Troy would still be with me if I didn't agree to sing with Ryan?" Gabriella questioned, reluctantly.

"Maybe, but that doesn't matter. Ryan's much nicer than Troy," replied Kelsi. "Plus," Kelsi blushed, "I don't have a crush on Ryan, but… he… he's cute." Gabriella gave Kelsi a questioning look. "But I prefer smarter guys."

Gabriella rolled her eyes. It was true, Kelsi liked guys who were smart, but Gabriella didn't care about Ryan's intelligence level.

Ryan made his way back to his lunch table, careful not to spill his soup, "What did I miss?"

"Nothing," replied Gabriella, but her huge smile gave away her lie. Ryan rolled his eyes, but did not pressure the girls for an honest answer to his question.

**A/N: Please review! Constructive criticism and compliments are both greatly appreciated!**


	9. Sharpay Isn't All Bad

**A/N: Thank you looney4rooney, BlackDragon733, and kizkool for reviewing. **

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical.

"Hey, Ryan!" Sharpay cheerily skipped up to her brother as he was walking to his car after school. Ryan sighed, obviously annoyed. "How are you?"

"Fine," replied Ryan. "How are you?"

"Alright. Will you drive me home?" Sharpay requested.

"Sure," consented Ryan. "But don't you have to get your car home?"

"Nope, Zeke drove me to school today. That's why I rushed out the door this morning," Sharpay explained. "Uh… Ryan… do you think that it's possible that eventually Troy will… like me as… you know… more than a friend?" Sharpay was uncharacteristically hesitant, but she never was normal when she spoke about Troy.

"T-to be honest… no," answered Ryan. It was not very often that Sharpay asked Ryan questions that had nothing to do with music, and he didn't really like serious questions. His reply was honest, but Ryan hoped that it didn't hurt Sharpay _too_ much. "But you're with Zeke, so you couldn't say yes even if he _did_ ask you out." This probably didn't comfort Sharpay too much, but it was also true.

"Yeah," Sharpay started to cry. "I've been trying to tell myself that it's possible that Troy likes me." She shook her head. "I don't know why I couldn't just accept the truth."

"Shar…" Unsure of what to say, Ryan bit his lip. Still crying, Sharpay hugged her brother. Ryan returned her hug. Despite all the bad times, Ryan felt bad for his sister. "He's not worth your time, anyway." Zeke was much nicer to Sharpay than Troy was, so Ryan thought that she'd be much better off with Zeke.

"Yeah," Sharpay nodded. She let go of her brother and backed up a step. "You probably think that I'm pathetic." Sharpay wiped the tears away from her eyes.

Ryan shook his head, "You're not pathetic." Sharpay sniffled. "C'mon, let's go home." Sharpay smiled, and feeling rather awkward, Ryan smiled too. They walked to the parking lot and got into Ryan's car.

During their ride home, they were silent for a long time. Sharpay eventually broke the silence, "I never realized how much I needed you until this summer. I… I just want to say 'thanks'."

Ryan was surprised and perhaps a bit confused too, "You've changed a lot; what's up?"

"I just finally realized that you didn't always _have to_ be there for me when you were," Sharpay explained. She sighed. "You're not always here for me, anymore."

For the first time since he had stopped hanging out with Sharpay all of the time, Ryan felt sorry and guilty, "Well… now you have more friends, right?"

"I guess, but they never listen to me when I'm upset," Sharpay told Ryan. "They expect me to always be happy."

Ryan smirked, thinking of a joke, but held his tongue; not feeling like this was an appropriate time to tease Sharpay. His smirk disappeared when he replied, "I'm sorry… I'll try to hang out with you more, but I won't always be with you like I was last year."

"Thanks Ryan," Sharpay smiled. "Hey, maybe Daddy will take us to a Seafood restaurant today; I'm in the mood for caviar."

"Do you think that he will mind if I invite a… friend?" questioned Ryan.

"Gabriella?" Sharpay sounded annoyed.

"Never mind," muttered Ryan. Sharpay's smile returned. _Well, she hasn't **completely **changed, but at least she's nicer,_ thought Ryan.

"Um… can you enter in the singing contest twice?" Sharpay asked.

"Sorry, but I'm pretty sure that it's against the rules, and Gabriella and I have already signed up," Ryan answered. He was going to try to be nicer to Sharpay than he had been since that summer, but he still wasn't going to always let her have her way. _I'm going to call Gabriella when we get home. I'm not going to invite her to dinner tonight, but maybe tomorrow…_

"Oh," the annoyed tone that Sharpay had when she said 'Gabriella' returned.

"Sorry," Ryan repeated. He drove into the drive way and parked the car.

"I'm gonna go ask Daddy if we can have seafood tonight," Sharpay immediately got out of the car and ran into the house. Sighing, Ryan took out his cell phone and dialed Gabriella's number.

**A/N: I'm sorry that Sharpay is really OOC in this chapter, but I wanted her to have a better relationship with Ryan than she did in the other chapters. Please review!**


	10. Dinner As A Family

**A/N: Thanks kizkool , looney4rooney, and BlackDragon733 for reviewing! **

"Hello?" Gabriella picked up her cell phone without checking who it was.

"Hey, Gabriella," greeted Ryan.

"Oh, hey Ryan. I signed us up for the singing competition," informed Gabriella, immediately recognizing Ryan's voice. "I hope that I don't mess up our song."

"You're going to be fine. No, you'll be more than fine; you'll be amazing," Ryan corrected himself. "So… do you want to come for dinner tomorrow night?"

"Sorry, but I can't. Taylor and I already have plans, but how about tonight?" suggested Gabriella.

"Tonight?" Ryan sighed. _I'm going to regret this._ "I can't. Um… I guess that I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Alright, but what are you doing tonight?" asked Gabriella.

"Family dinner; I know that it doesn't sound like a big deal to you, but my family is hardly ever all together for dinner," Ryan told her. This was true, but he wasn't going to tell Gabriella the other part of his reason. He was pretty sure that she wouldn't be happy that he was going to eat with his sister and not her.

"That's alright. I hope that you have fun," Gabriella took it a lot better than Ryan thought she would. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Ryan."

"Yeah, bye Gabby," Ryan hung up. Although he hadn't gotten a date with Gabriella, he still got to talk to her. Hoping that his mom was still doing yoga so that he could join her, Ryan ran inside. While sprinting to the yoga room, Ryan thought, _Please still be doing yoga,_ over and over again. Luckily, he found his mother doing a complicated leg stretch, along with many other people meditating in strange positions. Not wanting to disturb his mother, Ryan got out a mat, put it next to his mother's, and did a tripod.

After a few minutes, Mrs. Evans noticed her son. "Duckie!" she exclaimed. Clumsily, Ryan fell over and smiled.

"Hi mom!" he cheerfully replied, uninjured by his fall due to the mat. Yoga always seemed to cheer Ryan up. It helped him clear his mind and find his center.

"Sharpay told me that we're going to have seafood. It's good to strengthen the mind," explained Mrs. Evans.

"My mind sure could use some strengthening," Ryan joked.

Mrs. Evans smiled, "It's almost dinner time, we should go get ready."

"Okay," Ryan carefully lowered himself from a headstand. "See you at dinner, Mom." He jumped up.

As Ryan left the room, Mrs. Evans called out, "Bye Duckie!"

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Sharpay sat next to Ryan at the restaurant. Ryan had changed from the clothes that he wore to school and did yoga in to a nice, blue button-up shirt and a pair of black pants. Sharpay giggled, "I did wonderfully golfing today!"

"Yes you did," Mr. Evans nodded. "This was the first time that you've beaten me when I was trying my hardest." Sharpay's grin grew even wider than it already had been.

"Good job, Sharpay," complimented Ryan. "I haven't been able to beat Dad even when he goes easy on me." This comment caused Sharpay to become even more prideful.

"Aw… Duckie, you're amazing at yoga. Not everybody is good at golf; it's much harder than most people think it is," consoled Mrs. Evans. Ryan nodded. "Not to mention your singing." Ryan was a pretty good golfer, but he couldn't compare to his father or his sister.

"I'm entering a singing contest with one of my friends," Ryan told his mom.

"You're not entering with Sharpay?" Mrs. Evans asked. She was glad that Ryan was making new friends, but she wasn't expecting him to enter _singing_ competitions with anybody other than his sister.

Ryan sighed and shook his head, "No. If I could enter again with Sharpay, I would, but I can't. You're not allowed to enter twice."

"It's alright Ryan. I might as well give others a chance to win," Sharpay hid her disappointment. "Just knowing that I'm making someone else happy is good enough." Ryan was extremely surprised that neither one of his parents realized that Sharpay had lied.

Mr. Evans shook his head, "If you entered with your sister, you'd win. Sharpay is the best singer at East High. Why would you settle for anything less than the best?" Not bothering to contradict his father, Ryan shrugged. The food arrived before Mr. Evans could press the subject, and Ryan was glad that he didn't have to say who he entered with… or why.

"This caviar is _amazing_," announced Sharpay after tasting a few bites of her meal.

"This restaurant is so expensive; it'd better be amazing," Ryan laughed. The Evans family was so rich that it didn't really matter that the restaurant was expensive, but expensive food should be high-quality even if you can easily afford it. Ryan's face lit up when he noticed that his father was laughing at his joke. He wasn't desperate to get his father's attention or anything, but Sharpay always seemed to be the center of Mr. Evans' attention when they spent time as a family.


	11. A Phone Call And Afternoon Plans

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews, kizkool , looney4rooney, and BlackDragon733! **

"So how'd your family dinner go?" Gabriella asked. She was on the phone with Ryan. Gabriella sat down on her bed and yawned.

"Really well. My dad laughed at a joke I made," replied Ryan. "I just wish that I could've invited you."

Gabriella laughed, "It's good that you had time with your family." Secretly, Gabriella wished that she had been there too, but she didn't want to make Ryan feel bad. He didn't get to have dinner with his whole family a lot, so it was understandable that he didn't invite her. It was Thursday, meaning that she'd see Ryan tomorrow, but wouldn't see him over the weekend. At least she didn't _normally_ see Ryan over the weekend, but this week hadn't been normal, so maybe she would see him. Gabriella didn't want to build her hopes up too high only to see them crash down, so she told herself not to expect to see Ryan over the weekend.

"Did you finish your homework?" Ryan was pretty sure of the answer, but he needed some help.

"Yeah. Do you need help with anything?" Gabriella seemed to read Ryan's mind. Well, usually Ryan didn't like talking about school unless he needed help. Gabriella surpassed him in most subjects.

"Uh-huh. I have no idea whatsoever how to do the science homework. My tutor helped me with everything else," explained Ryan. "But even with her help, I couldn't understand the science." _You're a much better tutor than her anyway,_ thought Ryan.

"Hold on one second," muttered Gabriella. She unzipped her backpack, and after rummaging for a few moments, found her science homework. Finally, after about a half of an hour of Gabriella explaining the homework, Ryan understood it. "Wow, I found it quite simple." Relieved that Ryan understood the homework, Gabriella sighed.

"Simple?" Ryan squeaked. Science might as well have been Greek for all he understood. "Well, thanks a lot for the help. Anyone else would've lost patience."

"Who said that I didn't?" giggled Gabriella. Listening to her laugh, Ryan smiled.

"I can't wait to see you tomorrow," Ryan stated.

"Neither can I," replied Gabriella. "I have to go help my mom. Bye Ryan."

"Bye Gabriella," Ryan sighed. He didn't want to hang up with her, but he forced himself to press the end button on his cell phone. On the bright side, he had finished his homework. Hoping that he had done it all right (he knew that the science was right, but he wasn't totally sure about the rest), Ryan shoved his books, binders, and other supplies into his backpack. Staring at his backpack, Ryan daydreamed about Gabriella.

"Hey Ryan," Sharpay greeted, instantly making him come back to reality. Ryan waved to his sister. "Do you want to golf together tomorrow? Or…" Sharpay didn't want to say it, but she _really_ wanted to hang out with her brother, "… we could do yoga."

Ryan just gaped for a few seconds. Never had Sharpay asked to do yoga before. Once, they had yoga as a physical education unit, and Sharpay hated it. Feeling sure that Sharpay was either desperate or crazy, Ryan answered, "Let's golf. We both like golfing." Although Sharpay enjoyed golfing more (and was better at it), Ryan didn't want his sister doing something that she didn't like for him.

"Okay; that sounds great! I'll drive you to and from school, then," decided Sharpay. She didn't ask his opinion again, but she didn't have to. Ryan didn't care who drove… Plus, Gabriella wasn't free the next day, so he didn't have anywhere else (or anywhere better) to be. To show that he was fine with their plans (and Sharpay driving), Ryan nodded. "Did you understand the science homework?"

"No, I had to get help for it," Ryan shook his head.

"Uh… could I just copy the answers?" requested Sharpay.

"That won't help you understand the concept," Ryan smiled, goofily.

Sharpay rolled her eyes, but she couldn't hold back a small smile. "I'll go in for extra help the tomorrow if you'll come with me and you give me the answers," she pleaded.

"Fine," Ryan held out his pinky for her to do a pinky swear which she did. Then, he searched his backpack for the science homework. "Ah, here it is." He handed Sharpay the somewhat crumpled up piece of paper. Extra help in science wouldn't hurt. He understood the homework from what Gabriella told him, but didn't completely understand everything else that the quiz was on.

"Thanks Ry," Sharpay smiled cheerfully. "Well, my backpack is in my room. I'll go copy the answers and then I'll give this back." Hoping that Sharpay would keep her word of getting extra help, Ryan nodded. Although Sharpay had lied before, she had never broken a pinky swear with Ryan. Also, he was going with her, so she couldn't just say that she was there. Feeling that he could trust her (especially under the given circumstances), Ryan lied down on his bed. Sighing, he grabbed a book from his bedside table. His homework for Reading and Language Arts class was to write a paragraph about a character from your Individual Reading Book. Ryan was finished with the paragraph, but he figured that reading more couldn't hurt. Besides, it was something to do while Sharpay was "doing her homework". 


	12. Lunch and Plans

**A/N: Thanks for reviewing, looney4rooney, je.suis.kat, rockerHSM0890, and BlackDragon733. **

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical. Never have, never will.

Gabriella strolled into Ms. Darbus' classroom. _She looks so beautiful,_ thought Ryan_, and she walks so flawlessly._ Sighing, he just watched her walk until she stopped at the seat next to him.

"Hey Ryan!" she greeted, cheerily. "Are you sure that you understood the homework?"

"Yeah, you explained it perfectly," Ryan told her, smiling. _Should I tell her that I'm going in for extra help with Sharpay? … No, I won't…_ he decided. "So… I thought that maybe you could come over this weekend. We could practice our song, have dinner, and rent a movie."

"Sure. How about tomorrow?" suggested Gabriella. I nodded. "I'll come at about six. Is that good for you?"

"Okay. Six is great! Would you prefer that I pick you up, though?" he offered.

Nodding, Gabriella told him, "Yeah; I'd like that. What movie should we rent? I'd like to see 'Flyboys', but I'm okay with whatever you want."

"What's 'Flyboys' about?" questioned Ryan. He had never heard of that movie before, so he was pretty sure that it wasn't a musical. Anything that Gabriella wanted to see was alright with him, but he wanted to know more about the movie.

" Taylor watched it, and she said it was about the first pilots in World War I," Gabriella replied. "That guy from the Spiderman movies is in it. You know… the one who played Harry." 

"Oh okay, we'll rent that," consented Ryan. "You just have to answer one question."

"What?" Gabriella waited for Ryan's question.

"Do you just want to watch the movie because you think that the actor is cute?" asked Ryan. He smiled his goofy smile that Gabriella loved so much.

"No, of course not. Taylor recommended it, so I want to see it. You're cuter than him anyway," Gabriella answered, blushing. Ryan blushed, but the bell rang before he could reply.

_She thinks I'm cute,_ Ryan thought. He grinned as he happily strode to his first period class.

Gabriella had left right after the bell rang, hoping that Ryan felt the same way about her as she felt about him. _What if he doesn't like me as more than a friend, and he knows that I have a crush on him?_ she worried. Spotting Troy, she forgot about her worries for a second. She walked slowly, not wanting to be next to him.

Troy noticed this, but didn't slow down his pace. Although he still loved Gabriella, she seemed happier with Ryan. Anyway, he didn't have much time for her because of basketball, and his athletic ability had improved slightly since they broke up. He didn't want to sound selfish, but he had to keep his head in the game. He wasn't losing himself again; all of his other friends still liked him. After basketball season, he wasn't sure whether or not he'd be able to move on, but he wasn't going to limit himself to cheerleaders like he did before he met Gabriella. The school had already changed because of him and Gabriella, so he wasn't going to change back just because they broke up. Troy wasn't completely sure if he was just trying to forget her because she didn't love him back anymore, or if it was for the best.

Gabriella tried to ignore her ex-boyfriend. Neither one of them looked at the other. Both were very grateful when they finally reached the classroom. Their teacher was strict and unpleasant, but anything was better than that awkward silence. Reviewing for the quiz that they had the next Wednesday took up the entire class. Not needing the review, Gabriella didn't pay too much attention to the teacher. Studying at home was enough for her, but other kids seemed to need the review. _I can't wait for lunch. Maybe Ryan will just forget what I said in homeroom,_ hoped Gabriella.

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Ryan practically skipped into the lunchroom. He had gotten everything on the science homework correct. "Hey Kelsi," he sat down next to the short pianist.

"Oh, hi Ryan. You seem happy; is there any particular reason?" realized Kelsi.

"Gabriella helped me with my science homework, and I got everything right," Ryan answered. _If I go into extra help with Sharpay, I'll do well on the quiz next week._ "This probably wouldn't excite you, but I'm normally terrible at science."

"Good job, Ryan," complimented Kelsi. "I got a couple of questions wrong on that; it was hard."

"Yeah; I spent a long time on it. I was surprised that Gabriella was so patient," Ryan stated. _I'm really glad that she helped me so much. Gosh, I love her._ Blushing, Ryan tried not to think about Gabriella. It didn't really help that she sat down next to him at the lunch table at that moment.

"Hey guys. What are you talking about?" wondered Gabriella.

"Science, but the discussion is pretty much over. Hey, Kelsi; have you ever seen the movie 'Flyboys'?" Ryan asked.

"Nope," answered Kelsi. "Why? Is it good?"

" Taylor says it is, and Ryan and I were thinking about watching it together," Gabriella replied.

"Did I hear my name?" Taylor sat down across from Gabriella.

Ryan nodded, "Yeah. Gabriella says that you recommend the movie 'Flyboys'."

"Oh, that movie is amazing. You guys have to see it," raved Taylor.

"Maybe I'll rent it this weekend too," Kelsi considered. "Is it about birds or something?"

"No," Taylor shook her head. She noticed Chad looking at her, smiled and waved enthusiastically, then continued, "It's about pilots in World War I. It's kind of violent, but a great movie nonetheless."

"How's Chad?" teased Gabriella.

"He's doing very well, actually," Taylor told her. "He's glad because Tr… the basketball team is doing well."

"You can say Troy; I don't mind," Gabriella said. "I actually like… someone else now."

Taylor gave Gabriella an "oh really?" look, "Who?"

"Um… later," Gabriella muttered, glancing at Ryan who was pretending to be uninterested in their conversation. Taylor wasn't sure whether Gabriella just wasn't comfortable talking about crushes around boys, or if Ryan was the one. She was sort of thinking that it was the second one, but she wasn't certain.


	13. Now It's A Date

**A/N: Thanks for reviewing rockerHSM0890 and BlackDragon733. **

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical.

"Hey, Gabriella, let's go buy lunch," suggested Taylor. 

"But I brought lunch and I don't have any money and…" Gabriella protested. Taylor just rolled her eyes and dragged Gabriella onto the lunch line. "What is it?"

"Who's the guy?" questioned Taylor. Gabriella looked confused, so Taylor added, "The one that you have a crush on, who is he?"

Realizing what Taylor meant, Gabriella blushed and answered, "Ryan."

Taylor smirked, "That's no surprise." After all, Gabriella and Ryan had been hanging out a lot and Taylor noticed that Gabriella seemed happier around Ryan. Also, she thought that they looked really cute together. The dumb but cute drama-geek and the beautiful smart girl seemed to fit after East High became more accepting of having different friends. Of course, Ryan and Gabriella weren't as different on the popularity scale as Gabriella and Troy were, but they were still pretty different (mostly due to their grades).

"What do you mean? Do you think he knows?" asked Gabriella. _Maybe since he's so nice, he'll be friends with me even if he doesn't like me the same way? I hope so, but it would be nicer if he liked me back._

"I don't know whether or not he knows. He doesn't seem like the type to notice that stuff," Taylor replied. "I'm not totally sure, but I think that he likes you back." Taylor took a few steps forward, followed closely by Gabriella.

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"I wonder why Taylor asked Gabriella to go on the lunch line right after she admitted that she had a crush on someone other than Troy," Kelsi sarcastically stated.

"I wonder who it is," Ryan thought out loud. "I-I mean, I don't really care, but… you know… maybe I could help her get together with him?" _Just like I helped her get back together with Troy. I care more about her happiness than my own._ He sighed as he watched Gabriella talk to Taylor.

"Ryan Evans, are you suggesting that you play matchmaker?" questioned Kelsi. "I think that she likes…" Kelsi stopped. She had almost let it slip to Ryan that Gabriella liked him as more than a friend. "Look, can you just tell me something?" Kelsi was pretty sure that Ryan liked Gabriella back, but she would ask him just to be certain. Ryan nodded, so Kelsi continued. "If Gabriella had a crush on you, would you go out with her?"

Trying not to seem too enthusiastic, Ryan shrugged, "Yeah, I guess."

"You should ask her out," Kelsi told him.

"What? Uh… I-I can't," stuttered Ryan. "You know, I couldn't ruin our friendship even if I _wanted_ to ask her out." Kelsi rolled her eyes, noticing that Ryan was lying. Although he was normally a fabulous actor, he wasn't doing a very good job right then. Kelsi wasn't sure if his acting was bad on purpose.

Kelsi smirked, "Well, have fun on your date tomorrow."

Ryan blushed, "We're just hanging out; it's not a date."

"Who're you not going on a date with?" Taylor asked as she sat down. Gabriella slid back into the seat next to Ryan. Secretly, she hoped that Ryan and Kelsi had been talking about her because Ryan seemed like he was just in denial, and it _was_ a date.

"Nobody," Ryan's acting skills had returned, but it was still obvious that he was lying.

"Who?!" Gabriella demanded, unable to hide her curiosity.

"I'm not going on a date with _you_. It's not a date, right?" Ryan questioned.

"Not unless you want it to be," replied Gabriella, smiling slightly.

Ryan's cheeks turned red, "If we had a relationship and it didn't work out, would we still be friends?" He didn't want to totally lose Gabriella.

"Yup. So does that mean that we're dating now?" Gabriella involuntarily grinned. She just couldn't help it; Ryan was her dream guy. She wasn't sure if she had just ruined their friendship, but the idea of being Ryan's girlfriend made her so excited.

Ryan nodded, "I guess so." Smiling cheerily at Gabriella, Ryan was glad that she returned his feelings. He then turned to look at Kelsi. "I guess that you were right. It's a date now."

"Aw, I should've bet money," Kelsi jokingly complained. "You've got some extra and I could use some."

"Just because you're you, I'll give you some," Ryan sighed as he handed Kelsi a twenty dollar bill. "Mom always insists that I have an 'emergency twenty'," he did air quotes while saying "emergency twenty", "just in case I don't realize how low I am on gas or something. She just cares a little bit too much, sometimes."

"She's a mom," Taylor mocked sympathy as she nodded. "Is your dad typical too?"

Ryan shrugged, "He's athletic, he's only okay that I'm into drama because it makes Sharpay happy, and he's almost always working. So I'd give that a yes."

"I'm sure that he's proud of the man you are," Gabriella didn't dare to look at Ryan while she said that. "Any sane father would be."

"Then I guess that dad's insane," laughed Ryan. The girls at the table chuckled along with him.

**A/N: Well, Gabriella and Ryan are FINALLY a couple. Please review! And if you have time, please read and review my Ryella one-shot, Gabriella's One Flaw. (I don't know why all of my Ryella fics start with "Gabriella's".)**


	14. Studying Siblings

**A/N: Thanks for reviewing, looney4rooney and kizkool. **

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical.

"C'mon Ryan, hurry up," Sharpay complained. Ryan sighed as he tried to hurry to pack up his backpack. He never was very fast at packing up. "Ry-an."

"I'm trying," mumbled Ryan. He finished zipping up his backpack. "There. Now let's go."

"Finally," Sharpay smiled. Lifting his heavy backpack onto his back, Ryan closed his locker. "You have to go up a whole floor wearing **that**?" Finally, she wasn't talking about his clothing; she was talking about his backpack.

"Yup," Ryan replied. "Come on." He started walking, and Sharpay scampered to his side, slightly in front of him. Ryan rolled his eyes, but didn't try to get in front of Sharpay again.

When they reached the science room, they spotted Troy inside along with a few other kids, including Chad. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, Ryan entered the room. "Hi," Ryan muttered as he passed Chad. Chad waved. He wasn't sure if being friends with Ryan was being mean to his best friend, Troy, but he was going to at least be polite to him. Ryan was a nice guy, and Chad didn't really have a direct problem with him.

"Hey Sharpay. Do you want to sit here," Troy surprised himself by saying while motioning to the seat next to him. Chad gave Troy a confused look; he had never asked Sharpay to sit with him. _What's wrong with me? I don't want to sit next to her. She's so annoying._

Feeling an obligation to sit next to his sister, Ryan sat two seats away from Troy. Sharpay, who had obviously taken Troy's offer, was blushing a deep crimson.

"So, Troy… How are you?" questioned Sharpay.

"Fine, I guess. You?" answered Troy.

"I'm good," Sharpay giggled. _Zeke,_ she reminded herself. _But Troy._ She stared at Troy as if she was afraid that he would leave.

"Children, this is not a social hour," the teacher scolded. He gave Sharpay and Ryan a worksheet. "Do this, and then I'll check your answers and see what you did wrong." Ryan nodded and began reading the first question. Wishing that she could keep talking to Troy, Sharpay started the worksheet too. Troy continued working on his which was half finished.

Sharpay didn't understand the first question. _Is this English?_ she asked herself. Deciding that maybe after finishing the rest of the sheet, the first question might seem easier, Sharpay skipped to number two. Luckily, it was much simpler.

Ryan didn't need to skip the first question because it was similar to the homework that Gabriella had helped him with. Surprising himself, he understood all of the questions. After a little while, he was raising his hand for the teacher to check his work. For one of the first times in his life, Ryan understood a subject. He couldn't thank Gabriella enough for helping him. The teacher checked his worksheet.

"It's perfect," the teacher nodded. "Much better than most of your work, Ryan." Ryan noticed a satisfied smile on his teacher's face. Although Ryan didn't really understand any of the other subjects, he felt more confident about school.

Contrary to her brother, Sharpay didn't understand what they were doing in science at all. Normally, she was much better at school than Ryan, but right then she wasn't doing nearly as well as he was. After realizing that she couldn't answer a single question on the sheet, her hand was up in the air.

"Ms. Evans…" the teacher carefully examined her paper. "Your paper is blank."

"Um… yeah," Sharpay nodded, feeling really embarrassed and hoping that Troy was busy correcting answers on his paper to listen to her conversation with the teacher. "I don't understand it at all."

Noticing five other students had their hands up, the teacher frowned, "Your brother is doing very well. Have him help you at home. I would, but I have many other students here." Unsure what to do, Sharpay nodded again.

"Ryan," Sharpay whispered. "Mr. Smith says that you could just help me because he has other students to help. I can't believe that you're actually doing well."

Unsure whether Sharpay's last sentence was supposed to be an insult or a compliment, Ryan decided to just ignore it. "Okay. I'll help you study for science, and then we'll play golf," suggested Ryan.

"Alright, let's go," muttered Sharpay. She folded the worksheet and carefully put it in her backpack. _Great, now I have to study,_ she thought. Ryan and Sharpay stood up and started to leave the room. Just before she left the door, Sharpay waved to Troy. He didn't notice, and kept working on correcting his answers. 

**A/N: Please review! I'm kind of unsure if I should have Troypay or Zekepay in "Gabriella's Choice". I prefer Zekepay, but if you have a preference between the two, please leave it in your review. (You don't have to vote if you don't want to or don't care.) I'll use whichever one gets the most votes. Thanks!**


	15. Oatmeal Cookies for the Evans Twins

**A/N: Thanks for reviewing, hsmfan, Penny, line, jarno007, and looney4rooney. Zekepay won over Troypay 3-1, so there's going to be Zekepay in the story. **

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical.

"Where is she?" Zeke wondered. He had rang the Evans family's mansion's doorbell only to hear from a maid that Sharpay wasn't there. Sighing, Zeke sat down on the steps that led to the mansion's door. The maid had told him that Ryan was gone too.

Zeke's face lit up when he saw Sharpay and Ryan pull into the driveway. He had baked oatmeal cookies for them (well… mostly for Sharpay), and was glad that he had the opportunity to give them to the Evans twins.

"Zeke!" exclaimed Sharpay as she unbuckled her seatbelt and practically jumped out of the still-moving car.

"Sharpay!" Zeke beamed at his favorite girl in the world. Sharpay ran into his arms, and Zeke happily returned her hug.

"I'm sorry, Zeke!" Sharpay thought out loud.

"For what?" wondered Zeke, more concerned than angry. He wasn't sure what she was sorry for.

Sharpay realized that she couldn't tell Zeke that she was about to ditch him for Troy just a few minutes ago, "I-I'm sorry that you had to wait for us. Were you waiting long?"

"Hey Zeke!" Ryan called as he got out of the car.

"Hey Ry!" greeted Zeke as he let go of Sharpay. "You want a hug too?" Zeke, Sharpay, and Ryan laughed.

"I think I'll pass," Ryan shook his head. "What are those?" Ryan loved Zeke's cooking. It helped him be comfortable with him liking his sister the way he did. Of course, the food wasn't as important to Ryan as the fact that Zeke treated Sharpay extremely nicely.

"Oatmeal cookies," answered Zeke, jerking his hand away from Ryan even though Ryan hadn't grabbed for the cookies. "They're all for Sharpay, though." Zeke's smirk told Ryan that he was only joking.

"You're a terrible actor, you know that?" questioned Ryan as he grabbed the bag of cookies.

"I couldn't eat all of those cookies alone, anyway," Sharpay explained. "Not if I want to keep my figure."

Zeke looked Sharpay up and down, "Then, share all you want, Sharpay!" Sharpay hit him, playfully. "Well, I have to go. Lots of homework tonight." Zeke waved to Ryan just before Sharpay pulled him into another hug. "Bye Shar. I'll miss you," he whispered into Sharpay's ear.

"Bye Zeke. I'll miss you too," Sharpay muttered back.

After Zeke was out of sight, Ryan asked Sharpay, "Okay, so what were you _really_ sorry for?"

"What I said, I was sorry that Zeke had to wait," lied Sharpay.

"Sharpay you're a wonderful actress, but I can tell that you're lying. Tell me the truth. I promise that I won't tell anybody," promised Ryan.

"I… I was sorry that I still have feelings for Troy," admitted Sharpay, softly. Ryan nodded; he could tell that his sister had told him the truth then. "But I wouldn't trade Zeke for Troy… or anyone… anything else!" Sharpay sighed. _If I love Zeke so much, why can't I let Troy go for him?_ "And the apology just sort of slipped out…"

"It's probably hard to forget your first love. I mean, how long have you liked him? Since fourth grade, right?"

"Yes, since fourth grade," Sharpay confirmed, sighing. _Wow, that long?_ she asked herself. When Gabriella first moved to New Mexico, Sharpay had hated it when Troy and Gabriella were together. **She** had liked and known him far longer than Gabriella. But Troy had always seemed kind of like a dream to her, and she had thought that she could give him up. Zeke was… well, more real; Sharpay _loved_ Zeke and only _liked _Troy. Despite that, no matter how hard she tried, Sharpay couldn't stop liking Troy.

"But as long as you don't _do_ anything romantic with him, you have no reason to feel guilty," Ryan told his twin sister. "Feelings are sometimes uncontrollable, but actions aren't." Ryan felt really weird; he sounded much smarter and a **lot** more sure than he felt. "Do you think that I _wanted_ to like Gabriella when she was dating Troy?" While Sharpay shook her head, Ryan chuckled. "Of course not. But I tried to be respectful of the fact that she was in a relationship. You've stopped acting overly flirty around Troy. You don't have anything to worry about."

"Thanks Ryan," Sharpay nodded. "I feel better now." Pride fully, she looked away. "But I could've figured that out." Shaking his head, Ryan smirked. "But…" Sharpay's pompous expression turned into a caring one. "I'm really glad that you helped."

"And now it's time for me to help you with science!" Ryan exclaimed mock-enthusiastically.

"No," groaned Sharpay.

"Yes," Ryan nodded. "Now, let's go get our backpacks. No golf until after homework." _I feel like such a nerd. _

**A/N: Ryan's a little bit OOC, but I think that if he really wanted to help Sharpay, he'd be able to think deep. And thanks to your reviews, I put Zeke in because if it's going to be Zekepay, Zeke has to be in it (obviously). And I'm trying to make Sharpay grow away from Troy and not give up on him totally all at once because that would be kind of unrealistic. Well, please review, and tell me what you think!**


	16. Golfing and Discomfort

**A/N: Thanks for reviewing, looney4rooney, musicfreak1107, Penny, and rockerHSM0890. **

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical.

"How'd you get a par? This hole was really hard." Ryan stared awe struck at Sharpay.

"Practice makes perfect," Sharpay smiled, satisfactorily. "But a double bogie isn't _that_ bad." Ryan laughed; it was obvious that Sharpay was not experienced in comforting people.

"Well, it's the thought that counts," muttered Ryan.

"What?" asked Sharpay.

"Oh, I said that's very nice of you to say that," Ryan lied. "So… thanks."

"You're welcome. Okay, let's go to the next hole," Sharpay hopped into the golf cart. Ryan picked up his golf bag that he and Sharpay shared. He didn't mind that he had to carry it. Basically, all that he had to do was put it in and take it out of the golf cart, so he didn't have much to do anyway. "Ryan… don't compare yourself to me. Try to do your personal best."

"Wow Shar. I didn't even realize that I was doing that, but now that I think about it, I was. Thanks again!" Ryan was rather surprised.

"Looks like sometimes you actually _can_ learn something in P.E.," laughed Sharpay. Ryan smirked. It had amazed him how well his sister saw how he was feeling even if it wasn't exactly her words helping him. "Here we are." Sharpay stopped the golf cart and gracefully got out of it. However, Ryan grabbed the golf bag and tripped out of the cart.

"Ow!" exclaimed Ryan as he hit the ground. It might've not been so bad if golf clubs hadn't hit his back and head. Although it was difficult, Ryan held back tears.

"Ryan!" yelled Sharpay, highly concerned for her twin. She pulled the golf bag off of Ryan. "Oh my goodness! Are… are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," groaned Ryan as he used all of his strength to get up. "But I'm no longer in a golf mood." A bit disappointed, Sharpay nodded. "Let's watch Hairspray. I love that movie."

"Alright," Sharpay agreed. She helped Ryan pick up all of the golf clubs and balls and put them in the bag.

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Ryan popped "Hairspray" into the DVD player. As soon as he sat down next to Sharpay on the couch, his cell phone rang. Slightly irritated, Ryan checked who was calling. All bitterness disappeared as he found out that Gabriella was calling him. "Shar, I'm really sorry, but I have to take this call," Ryan told his sister.

"Okay," muttered Sharpay. Wondering who it was, she pressed pause on the remote.

"Hello," Ryan greeted.

"Hey Ryan. What's your favorite color?" questioned Gabriella.

"Light green. Why?" answered Ryan, standing up from the couch.

"No reason," Gabriella sang, playfully. "So… what are you doing?"

"Watching Hairspray with Sharpay. Sorry, Gabriella, but… I sort of have to go," Ryan apologized. Sharpay had been almost sure that it was Gabriella, but now she was certain. Ryan usually would've silenced the call and called whoever it was after the movie. "Love you."

Gabriella experienced a weird feeling in her stomach. She hadn't said "I love you," and meant it as more than a friend-type love to anyone outside of her family except for Troy. She didn't feel comfortable saying it, no matter how much she wanted to. "Yeah… bye Ryan." Before Ryan could say anything else, Gabriella hung up.

Feeling rather hurt, Ryan plopped back down on the couch. "Press play… please," he requested. Sharpay did so. As the first commercial started, Ryan got a pounding headache; the golf club injuries still hurt. "Shar, could you please turn the volume down?"

"Oh… sure," Sharpay consented. She held down the volume lowering button. Usually, Ryan liked to blast the volume when he watched musicals. Sharpay felt sort of guilty for Ryan's injuries, so she turned down the volume even though she normally liked it loud too. It was quite clear to Sharpay that Ryan had a headache because he would've liked the previous volume if he didn't. "Oh, and Ryan…"

Turning away from the television to face his sister, Ryan questioned, "Hm?"

"Thanks… for helping me with science. I never would've guessed that _you_ could help me with homework," Sharpay smiled. "Um… no offense."

Despite his injuries, Ryan laughed, "You're welcome Sharpay." He yawned, stretching his arms out. "Finally! The commercials are over." Ryan's head felt a smidge better with the lower volume. "Come on, Sharpay; press play."

"Oh… right," Sharpay quickly pressed the play button. The movie started. "Zac Effron is so cute!" Involuntarily, Sharpay let out a high-pitched squealish giggle. Ryan thought of many insults for that giggle, but he held them all back. Insulting his sister was a bridge too far. She was finally kind to him, and he didn't want to mess that up.

**A/N: Please review!**


	17. Lovable Differences

**A/N: Thanks for reviewing, looney4rooney, musicfreak1107, iheartzacefron58, and rockerHSM0890. **

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical.

Ryan was driving to Gabriella's house. He had "Our Song" by Taylor Swift playing on the radio. Although most guys were more into rap, Ryan preferred country music, music from plays, and other stuff. Happily, Ryan sang along to the entire song. It ended right as he pulled into Gabriella's driveway, and he turned off the radio. Cheerily, Ryan hopped out of the car, and ran up to the front door. As he reached to ring the doorbell, the door opened. "Oh, hey Gabriella," greeted Ryan. _She was waiting for me._ They both smiled at each other.

"Hi Ryan," Gabriella stepped out the door and closed it as Ryan stepped back. "So… how are you?"

"Great," replied Ryan. "You?" He motioned for her to go to the car, and opened the passenger door for her.

"Wonderful," Gabriella answered, staring into Ryan's eyes. "Well… uh… thanks…. for opening the door."

"You're very welcome," Ryan closed the door for Gabriella, and then got into the driver's seat. He turned the radio back on. "What station do you want to listen to?"

"This one's great," Gabriella turned the volume up a little bit. "Live Like You Were Dying" by Tim McGraw was playing. "I love this song." Ryan really liked the song too, so he was glad that Gabriella didn't want to change the station. He pulled out of the driveway, and headed back home.

"I already rented 'Flyboys' this morning, but I haven't watched it yet," Ryan told Gabriella.

"I can't wait to see it. Taylor usually only recommends movies if they're really good. And she said that Flyboys is good for guys too," explained Gabriella. "I wouldn't want to bore you with a chick flick." 

Ryan chuckled, "I don't mind chick flicks. I sometimes watch them with Sharpay." Actually, Ryan kind of liked some "chick flicks". If they were funny and/or emotionally moving, he usually enjoyed them. But he didn't watch them alone; he still had his masculinity and pride.

"It's great that you can admit that," Gabriella stated. "Most guys wouldn't even watch them; much less admit that they like them."

"Well, I'm different and proud," laughed Ryan. "You're different too… but I think that special is a better word for you." Ryan really wanted to hug Gabriella, but he couldn't even look at her because he was driving. Gabriella was grateful that Ryan's eyes were on the road because her face was bright red.

"Thanks Ryan," Gabriella muttered, just a bit louder than the music. "But I'm glad that you're different. You've done so many great things for me that guys who are considered 'normal' wouldn't do…" Had Ryan been obsessed with fitting in and afraid to show who he really was, Gabriella would've had a terrible summer at Lava Springs.

"Oh you make me sound so great," Ryan grinned. Although Ryan was trying to act modest, he really enjoyed that someone was genuinely complimenting him… especially because that someone was Gabriella. He didn't get complimented too often. Ryan pulled into his driveway. The couple got out of the car, and walked into the Evan's mansion. (Of course, Ryan held the door for Gabriella.) "Okay, do you want to watch it in my room or the living room? The living room is probably neater because I told the maid not to clean my room. I have a few books lying around, and I didn't want her to move them because they'd probably get lost."

Gabriella giggled, "Let's watch it in the living room. Your couches are comfortable right?"

Ryan nodded, "Nothing but the best for the Evans family." Ryan led Gabriella to the living room, and she looked around the large room.

"Wow…" Gabriella gaped. Her eyes stopped moving when they saw the television. "That is gigantic." Then, she realized that Ryan must've thought that she was acting weird and despite her curiosity stopped looking around in awe.

"Yeah… like I said, my dad always gets the newest and most expensive stuff. I wouldn't mind a smaller TV, but he insists on the latest model, and it makes Sharpay happy," explained Ryan. "This couch is the softest and most comfortable, in my opinion." Ryan pointed to a pastel green couch. As Ryan put Flyboys into the DVD player, Gabriella sat down on the couch that Ryan had recommended.

"You're right. This is really comfortable," sighed Gabriella. Ryan sat down next to her. Nervously, he put his arm around her. Gabriella snuggled into Ryan's side, and his face turned bright red.

**A/N: Sorry that it's kind of short, but I wanted to end the chapter before the movie started. Please review!**


	18. Nervous Ryan and Respectful Gabby

**A/N: Thanks for reviewing, musicfreak1107, looney4rooney and autumnamberleaves. **

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical.

Gabriella could feel Ryan shaking as if he was cold, but his arm on her was warm. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Y-yeah," stuttered Ryan. "I just… left the remote on the table." Gabriella backed away after Ryan's arm let go of her. While trying to conceal how deeply he was breathing, Ryan walked over to the table in the middle of the living room and grabbed the remote off of it. "We don't have to watch all of these previews." Smiling nervously, Ryan pressed the menu button and a movie advertisement abruptly ended to show the menu screen. Trying to calm himself down, Ryan took a deep breath before returning to his seat on the couch.

"If you'd rather just sit next to each other, that's fine," Gabriella had noticed that Ryan was uneasy. Despite his great acting talent, Ryan wasn't great at hiding it if he was nervous.

"I'm so sorry. I really hope that you aren't offended, but yes, I'd rather not be as close as we were," replied Ryan. _She's so amazing. If one of Sharpay's boyfriends even merely **hinted** at that, they'd get screamed at._

"Oh and Ryan… You can press play now," added Gabriella.

"Right," he laughed as he pushed the triangular button. Happily, Ryan sat next to Gabriella. Gabriella playfully moved to the opposite side of the couch. "Hey!" Ryan laughed. "Oh come on; I preferred being really close." Realizing what he had just said, he blushed. "Okay, I'm sorry. We can cuddle, Gabby." _Gosh, she's just so cute._

"Oh really?" Gabriella gave Ryan an inquisitive look. He simply nodded, and Gabriella bounced back to his side. Again, Ryan put his arm around his girlfriend and she snuggled with him. Although this time, he didn't feel as nervous. His face was still bright red, but he was no longer shaking. "I prefer this too." Ryan squeezed Gabriella's shoulder, playfully.

"Sh… the movie is starting," Ryan put his pointer on his free arm on Gabriella's lips to shush the einstienette as he turned to her. Their eyes made contact, and they both looked lovingly at each other. Ryan removed his finger from Gabriella's lips, and her face started moving closer to his. Quickly, Ryan looked away and turned back to the television screen.

Gabriella blushed, _He's not ready._ Gabriella was a little bit disappointed, but she didn't want to pressure Ryan into doing anything he wasn't ready to do. Plus, she herself had really just moved closer in the heat of the moment. _I have to respect that he's not ready to kiss me yet._ As she took a deep breath, Gabriella decided to relax during the movie. With a bit of difficulty, she focused her attention on the TV screen.

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As the movie ended and the credits started rolling, Gabriella's eyes were tearing. Ryan noticed this, "Gabriella, are you alright?"

"Yeah…" she answered. "It's just so sad that he never found her… Sorry Ryan." Gabriella felt kind of pathetic for crying because of a movie, but it was very sad. Many of the characters had died, and the main character had been separated from his true love.

"There's no need to be sorry," Ryan shook his head. Grabbing a few tissues from the table next to him, he wiped away Gabriella's tears and handed her a tissue.

Gabriella smiled at Ryan as she thought,_ He's so wonderful._ She wiped away a couple of tears that Ryan had missed. "So where's your trash can?"

"Oh, don't you want to figure that out for yourself?" joked Ryan. Rolling her eyes, Gabriella shook her head. "Fine then, take the fun out of it. It's right there." Ryan pointed to a cylinder with beautiful and detailed drawings of flowers and plants on it.

"_That's_ a trash can?" Gabriella gaped. She got up, and threw the tissues that Ryan and she had used into the beautiful garbage can.

"Yes, that's a trash can," confirmed Ryan. "Are you hungry? We could order in unless you'd prefer to have a nice, home-cooked meal by one of my family's wonderful maids."

"We could just order out," decided Gabriella. "How does Chinese food sound to you?"

"Wonderful choice, darling," Ryan laughed. "What's your favorite place?"

"How about Mr. Chu's Garden?" suggested Gabriella.

"Okay," Ryan nodded. "I'll go get the phonebook." He got up from the couch.

"There's no need to," Gabriella grabbed Ryan's arm and pulled him back down to the couch. "I have the restaurant's number saved on my phone. What do you want?"

"Chicken lomaine," replied Ryan. Gabriella nodded as she took her cell phone out of her pocket. She went to Mr. Chu's Garden on her contacts and pressed send.

**A/N: Please review! And I know that Mr. Chu's Garden is kind of a weird name for a restaurant, but I'm too lazy to think of a better one. :-p**


	19. Mr Evans, Ms Montez, and Mr Chu

**A/N: Thanks for reviewing, looney4rooney, rockerHSM0890, and musicfreak1107. **

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical.

"That will be twenty dollars," stated the delivery boy handing Ryan a large, brown paper bag. "And give tip too." Nodding, Ryan took out his wallet and handed the guy twenty-five dollars. "Thank you." _He over tipped, _the delivery boy thought, happily.

"You're welcome," Ryan smiled and waved. The delivery boy waved back and started off back to his car. "Okay, Gabs, let's eat in the kitchen." Gabriella nodded, and followed Ryan into the Evans' kitchen. It was huge, and pretty much everything was shiny. Gabriella and Ryan sat down on chairs across from each other as Ryan put the bag of hot, Chinese food onto the gleaming wooden table. Ryan grabbed a few little, white boxes (you know… the boxes that Chinese food places use for take out), and examined them, a little bit surprised. There was a sunflower on four sides, but the petals were pink. And under that, it said "Mr. Chu's Garden" in purple script lettering. He had never ordered from Mr. Chu's Garden before, so the box seemed kind of unique to him.

"Ryan… why are you staring at the box? I thought that you were hungry," Gabriella giggled as she took another white box from the brown, paper bag.

"It's interesting," Ryan was still contemplating the box. "Did Mr. Chu design these?"

Gabriella laughed, "No, of course not. His wife made the box design."

"Oh," Ryan smiled and blushed a bit as he happily watched Gabriella laugh. "Well, that explains the fancy boxes. They look really pretty, though." Opening the chicken lomaine, Gabriella rolled her eyes. (They had both ordered the same thing.)

"Where are the plates?" questioned Gabriella.

"Oh, I'll get them," Ryan got up and grabbed a few plates from one of the many cupboards. He handed one to Gabriella and put one in front of himself. After Gabriella thanked him, they both poured all of their lomaine onto their plates. Grabbing a pair of chopsticks, Ryan began eating.

"Um… Ryan? Where are the forks?" asked Gabriella. Suddenly, Ryan noticed that Gabriella hadn't started eating.

"Why don't you just use chopsticks?" he wondered.

"It's easier to use a fork," replied Gabriella. Ryan shrugged and got Gabriella a fork. "Thanks." So basically, they both ate in silence after that. Although there was quite a bit of chicken lomaine in each box, they both finished eating. After they were both finished, Gabriella stuck her hand into the bag and pulled out two fortune cookies. "Here you go." She put one in front of Ryan. "You open it first."

"Why does it matter?" wondered Ryan.

"Because the second fortune is always better," Gabriella answered, matter-of-factly.

Ryan rolled his eyes and opened the cookie, "You will encounter many obstacles and will not be able to overcome them if you don't keep your friends close." He began to think that maybe Gabriella was right. His fortune wasn't that great.

"You have a great friend who will always be there for you," read Gabriella. "See? My fortune was much better."

Although Ryan was very surprised, he stated, "Your fortune would've been better even if you opened it first. Plus, I keep my friends close, so I don't have to worry about mine."

"Oh, is that true?" asked Gabriella. She got up and moved to the chair next to Ryan's. "The obstacles will still come, and it didn't specifically say that you _would_ overcome the obstacles if you kept your friends close." As Ryan noticed Gabriella's smirk, he laughed. "Oh and Ryan?"

"Huh?" he asked as he stopped laughing.

"You have a piece of chicken on your cheek," Gabriella picked up her napkin and wiped off the small piece of chicken. Then, she quickly pecked the cheek that she had wiped. Ryan's face warmed up and turned bright red. "There." Picking up her plate and putting her fork and napkin on it, Gabriella walked over to the sink. She put her dishes in the sink and threw her napkin in the garbage.

"Aw Gabs, I would've cleared your plate for you," Ryan cleared his things too.

"It's fine. I felt bad making you get everything, anyway. And you don't have to wash the table or anything because we didn't get anything on it. So I guess that we can practice our song now," suggested Gabriella.

"Oh yeah. It sounds really good, but we have to memorize it and make it even better!" Ryan smiled. He grabbed Gabriella's hand and led her to a room with a piano. "Kelsi will play piano when we actually sing it, but for now I will. I have the music right here." He pointed to the music on the piano. After pulling out the seat from the piano, Ryan sat down and motioned for Gabriella to sit next to him.

**A/N: I hope that you liked the chapter! Please review!**


	20. Unconfidence and Awesomeness

**A/N: Thanks for reviewing, looney4rooney, heath-matt-jensen-jaredox, and musicfreak1107. Just so everyone knows the song that Ryan and Gabriella sing the same song as the one in one of the previous chapters but the actions are different. **

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical.

Although it was the second time that they were singing the song, it felt like the first. Ryan was a bit nervous that he was going to mess up on the piano. Despite his talent, he didn't think that he was very good. Plus, he had never played the song before. After taking a deep breath, Ryan played the intro which was about four measures.

Then, Gabriella started to sing, _"It's not called love at first sight. I never thought that you and I could be friends." _

Ryan had been concentrating on playing the piano. That had made him forget that he was supposed to come in at the beginning of the song with Gabriella. He joined in, _"But now I've realized maybe we could be something more. You cared… though I didn't expect you to. You were there… when no one else was."_ Ryan had messed up on the piano just a few times. But he never stopped playing or trying since Gabriella didn't seem to notice. Ryan kind of surprised himself because he had expected to mess up a lot more than he did.

_"Forever…"_ started Gabriella.

Ryan came in, _"That's how long I'll be here. Forever…"_ It felt so great to him that Gabriella actually meant what she was singing this time. Kelsi really was an amazing songwriter. And she seemed to know that these lyrics fit Ryan and Gabriella… Or at the time that she had written them _would_ fit them later on.

_"I'll hold you dear. I never…" _ Gabriella sang to Ryan.

_"Wanna be without you, so forever…"_ Ryan sort of replied.

_"My love will be true forever,"_ both of them sang. Their voices were in perfect harmony. _"I've denied that I loved you. I'm so pressured not to. But I just can't help it. You're too amazing.…"_

_"Forever…" _continued Ryan.

_"That's how long I'll be here. Forever…" _Gabriella smiled.

_"I'll hold you dear. I never…" _Ryan concentrated hard on the music trying not to mess up on the piano or his voice.

_"Wanna be without you, so forever…" _sang Gabriella.

_"My love will be true forever. Oh yeah… My love will be true forever," _they finished together.

"It sounded even better with you on the piano," complimented Gabriella. "I never knew that you could play."

"Well, Sharpay and I always used our rehearsal pianist, Jason, so I always practiced alone. I don't think that Sharpay has heard me play since my family decided to hire Jason. He's much better than me anyway," explained Ryan. The main reason why Ryan was unconfident with his talent on the piano was because Sharpay preferred Jason. Although Ryan pretended that he didn't care, he had been hurt at first when Sharpay wanted someone other than him to play piano for the songs that they sang together. Ryan was happy to let Kelsi play, though. She was a good friend and dedicated most of her time and energy to playing piano. Ryan worked much harder on his singing than his piano playing, so he was glad that he had a friend to play it for him during the contest. But Jason had never been very nice to him, and that was really why he didn't like that Sharpay had preferred him.

"I think that you did very well. But Kelsi's probably practicing this day and night, so you don't have to be amazing at it," Gabriella replied. She wasn't really sure that she should've said the last part. It was true, and she guessed that Ryan would feel better knowing that he didn't have to care if he messed up a bit on the song. It didn't really matter because he wouldn't be the one playing at the contest.

"Yeah… thanks," Ryan yawned. "By the way, you sounded great." He put his arm around her and gave her a sort of hug.

"Thank you, Ryan," giggled Gabriella. "You sounded awesome too."

"I said that you sounded great, not awesome," Ryan joked. Gabriella gave him a mock-glare. "But I meant that you sounded awesome." As he saw the beautiful smile on Gabriella's face after he told her that, Ryan couldn't help but grin.

**A/N: Sorry that it was a bit short. Please review!**


	21. Positive Actions and Reactions

**A/N: Thanks for reviewing, looney4rooney, heath-matt-jensen-jaredox, and musicfreak1107. Sorry for the long wait for an update.**

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical.

Ryan sighed as he plopped down on his bed. He had driven Gabriella home. Wishing that she could've stayed longer, Ryan slowly got up from his bed. After turning the light off, he yawned and returned to his bed. Just as he was about to drift off, Sharpay entered the room and turned the light on.

Ryan blinked a few times to adjust to the bright light. "Shar?" he asked, drowsily.

"Guess what, Ryan?" giggled Sharpay as she sat down on his bed, oblivious to how tired he was.

"I don't know; what?" questioned Ryan, trying his best to seem interested.

"Zeke and I kissed!" she exclaimed.

Ryan no longer felt tired, "Really?"

"Uh huh," Sharpay nodded. "Isn't that great? And I felt wonderful." Her broad smile didn't fade. "How'd things go with Gabriella?"

"Fine," Ryan shrugged. "You know, we sang… and ate… and watched 'Flyboys'…" He smirked, realizing what Sharpay was really wondering. "She kissed my cheek, but we didn't kiss on the lips." Sharpay looked satisfied, but not as happy as she had before.

"Aw well… you'll kiss soon. I can tell," Sharpay's smile returned.

Ryan shrugged, "I don't know…" Sharpay nudged him, and he blushed. "But I kind of want to kiss her." The twins laughed. "I don't want to be rude, but Shar, it's late. And I'm tired."

"Oh sorry," Sharpay apologized. "I just _had_ to tell you."

"It's fine. Good night," Ryan waved.

"Good night," Sharpay left, turning off the light as she exited. After yawing again, Ryan quickly fell asleep.

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Right after entering the door, Gabriella ran up to her room and picked up her phone. Rapidly, she dialed her best friend's number.

"Hello?" Taylor picked up the phone.

"Hey, Taylor. It's Gabriella," Gabriella replied.

"How'd you like Flyboys?" questioned Taylor.

"It was great, but the best part of the night was singing with Ryan," answered Gabriella. "Did you know that he can play the piano?" _As if his great voice wasn't enough,_ Gabriella thought, dreamily.

"Really?" Taylor was surprised.

"Yup," confirmed Gabriella.

"And…?" Taylor wondered. "Anything else interesting that you want to mention?" She smiled, predicting what Gabriella's reply would be. _But wouldn't she mention it first if they kissed? Well… I can never tell with Gabriella,_ thought Taylor.

"Well, I kissed his cheek, but I don't think that's what you wanted to hear," Gabriella told her. She felt her face grow warm as she remembered how Ryan had looked after the cheek kiss.

"It's a start," laughed Taylor. "I'm glad that you two are together. You seem really happy, and Ryan really helped after your breakup with Troy." Taylor wasn't sure whether or not she should have mentioned Troy but thought that Gabriella was probably over him since she had started going out with Ryan.

"Yeah, he was," Gabriella's tone was a bit less giddy, but she sounded alright. Taylor decided that she shouldn't discuss Troy too much. But mentioning his name a few times was okay. "Well… how was your night?"

"It was alright, I guess," Taylor muttered. "Nothing really special happened. It wasn't nearly as good as your night, you little lovebird." Taylor laughed.

Gabriella blushed, "I'm sure that it wasn't." She chuckled. "Well, talk to you later. Bye."

"Bye, Gabby," stated Taylor. The two friends hung up.

**A/N: Sorry that it's really short, but I wanted to update since I haven't in a while.**


	22. A Surprise Visit from an Unwanted Guest

**A/N: Thanks for reviewing, looney4rooney.**

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical.

Gabriella lay down. She was almost asleep when the doorbell rang. _Who could that be?_ she thought. _It's so late._ Although she was exhausted, she slowly got up and went to the door. She turned the knob, and Gabriella gaped when she saw who it was.

"Troy?!" exclaimed Gabriella. Then, realizing how loud she was, she put her hand over her mouth. Her mother was probably asleep. "What are you doing here?" Her shout had turned to a whisper.

"Gabriella…" Troy sighed. "Can I come in?"

Unsure what to do, Gabriella hesitated. "Troy, I'm sorry, but I already have a new boyfriend. We can't get back together," Gabriella might as well not waste her time if all that Troy wanted was her back.

"That's not it," replied Troy. Gabriella walked back into her house followed closely by Troy.

"So…" muttered Gabriella. She had a bad feeling in her stomach. She was pretty sure that Troy had bad news. Why else would he be there if he wasn't trying to get her back?

"Uh… my aunt's getting married... And uh… I wanted to know if you'd like to go the wedding with me. Please, Gabriella?" requested Troy.

"Troy," Gabriella rolled her eyes. "You said that you weren't trying to get back together with me." _I can't believe that I thought he was telling the truth._ She gave him an irritated look. "Come on Troy." Gabriella shook her head.

"No, no. Not as a date. Just… as friends," explained Troy. "Everyone else is bringing someone, and I don't have anyone. I-it won't be a date. Please just do me this one favor?"

"Troy, I don't know about this," Gabriella thought of Ryan. What kind of crazy boyfriend would let her go to a wedding with her ex-boyfriend? "Do you promise that you won't even so much as flirt with me?" She had to make sure that it would be totally platonic if she would so much as consider it.

"Yes Gabby, I promise. Scouts honor," Troy laughed. "But I really am serious. I'll be Mr. Platonic."

"Give me the details and I'll consider it," decided Gabriella. Troy handed her an envelope apparently containing an invitation to the wedding. "Okay. I'll get back to you."

"Thanks so much, Gabs. I guess that I'll be going now. Bye," Troy waved.

"You're welcome. See you," Gabriella closed the door behind him. She felt really weird about going to a wedding with Troy, but he had promised that it would just be a friend thing. One thing was for sure, Gabriella had to make sure that Ryan was okay with it before she could consider going. Realizing how tired she was, Gabriella yawned. "I'll call Ryan tomorrow…" She shuffled back up to her room and almost instantly fell asleep.

_I can't flirt with Gabriella,_ Troy told himself. _We'll just be friends._ He had realized that totally giving up Gabriella was a huge mistake. But it had taken him too long to realize it. She was already going out with Ryan. _I'll just have to wait until they break up._ If he didn't offer friendship before that, Gabriella would never get back together with him. Although Troy knew that until Gabriella was single again, he could only be friends with her. He also knew that she was worth waiting for.

**A/N: Well, I hope that you liked it! Review, please.**


	23. Certainty and Doubts

**A/N: Thanks for reviewing, EMorgan, XOxoOhMyJonasoxOX, looney4rooney, and musicfreak1107.**

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical.

The next day, Gabriella woke up to the sound of her beeping alarm clock. Yawning, she turned it off. Then, she remembered Troy. Quickly, she grabbed her phone and dialed Ryan's number.

"Hello, Evans' residence, Ryan speaking," Ryan answered the phone.

"Ryan, it's Gabriella. Don't you have caller ID?" questioned Gabriella.

"Yeah, I just forgot to check it," replied Ryan. Laughing, Gabriella rolled her eyes. "So, what's up, Gabby?"

Gabriella hesitated a bit, "Well… Troy came over to my house last night." Ryan wasn't really sure what to say, so he remained silent. After a few seconds, Gabriella decided to continue. "And he invited me to his aunt's wedding. He promised that we'd just be friends, but I still thought that I should make sure that it's okay with you before I make my decision."

"Well, it's okay with me," Ryan told her. He didn't want to be overly protective and jealous because then Gabriella might get mad at him. Troy had promised that it would be platonic, so even though Ryan was a bit uneasy, he decided that if Gabriella wanted to go, he shouldn't stop her. "Do you think that you'll go?"

"I don't know. I think so if it doesn't interfere with anything," muttered Gabriella. Although Gabriella didn't really want to go, she didn't want to hurt Troy's feelings. "Are you sure that you're okay with it? Because if you're not, that's fine."

"Yeah, I'm fine with you going if you want to," Ryan told her. Troy was many things not including a promise-breaker, so Ryan trusted him. He was a little bit worried that Gabriella might fall for him again. "Gabriella?"

"Yeah?" questioned Gabriella.

"Um… you don't have any feelings for Troy anymore, do you?" mumbled Ryan.

"No, Ryan. I'm totally over Troy," Gabriella assured him. She was too in love with Ryan to even think about other boys. Especially boys who had broken her heart (i.e. Troy). "And he's probably over me too. He seems like he just wants to be friends." _**Seems** is the key word,_ Gabriella thought. She shook her head, not believing that Troy would want her back.

"Okay. Sorry, I just wanted to make sure. It's not that I don't trust you or anything," explained Ryan.

"It's okay, Ryan," Gabriella replied. If he was going somewhere with an ex-girlfriend of his (if he had one), Gabriella would want to make sure that he didn't still have feelings for her either. "Well… I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Yeah. Bye Gabriella," Ryan hung up the phone, sighing. Troy, what are you up to? He wasn't sure if Troy's intentions were innocent or not. He promised that he would only be friends with Gabriella at his aunt's wedding. But what was Troy's definition of friendship? Ryan shook his head. Stop being so paranoid. You know that you can trust Gabriella. Again, he sighed, wishing that he could listen to himself.

--

Gabriella hung up her phone. She looked at the envelope on her bedside table, the invitation. Well, I might as well see whether or not I can go, she decided. Then, she picked up the letter and ripped it open. She skimmed it, looking for the date. It was the next Saturday. Slowly, Gabriella got out of bed and went down to the kitchen to get her personal planner which she wrote down all of her engagements in. She wasn't doing anything on the day of the wedding. Gabriella sighed; she had kind of hoped that she wouldn't have to go. But she couldn't say, "Troy, I can't go to your aunt's wedding because I don't want to be with you." That would be extremely rude, and Troy would get upset.

"I guess that I'll go," Gabriella mumbled to herself. Reluctantly, she made her way back up to her room. Unsure about her decision, Gabriella stared at her phone for a little while. Then, she actually picked the phone up. Gabriella had a little bit of trouble recalling Troy's number, but after a few seconds of thought, she remembered and quickly dialed it.

"Hello?" Troy's father answered the phone.

"Hi, Mr. Bolton," greeted Gabriella.

"Oh, hey Gabriella. What's up?" questioned Mr. Bolton.

"Um… well, Troy invited me to his aunt's…" Gabriella wasn't sure if the aunt was his mom's sister or his dad's sister. Then, she looked at the letter. The aunt's name was Valerie Bolton, so she was the dad's sister. "… your sister's wedding. And I can come, so… just tell him, I guess."

"Alright. I'm sure that he'll be glad that one of his friends is coming," stated Mr. Bolton. He called Gabriella one of Troy's "friends" because Troy had told him about the break up. "Good bye, Gabriella."

"Bye, Mr. Bolton," Gabriella hung up the phone. I hope that going to the wedding isn't a mistake, she worried.

**A/N: I hope that you like this chapter! Thanks for reading! Reviews are highly appreciated!!**


	24. I miss you!

A/N: Thanks for reviewing, BlackDragon733. I'm just going to skip to right after the wedding.

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical.

Troy and Gabriella were sitting right next to each other inside of a beautiful, huge church that was filled up with people. There were amazing stained-glass windows around the outside of it.

Mrs. Bolton (who was on the other side of Troy) was crying. She muttered, "That was beautiful…" Gabriella smiled politely at her, and Troy and his father nodded.

Troy whispered to Gabriella, "She always gets this way at weddings."

"Oh…" sighed Gabriella. "It was really a good wedding though…" Troy nodded again.

"Well, I guess that we should get to the reception," mumbled Mrs. Bolton. She wiped the tears from her eyes with a beautiful handkerchief.

--

Ryan was pacing in the living room. He wasn't sure what to do. The doorbell rang. Maybe it's Gabriella, and she decided not to go to the wedding? he thought. Disappointment fell over him when he opened the door to see Zeke.

"Oh hey, Zeke," Ryan couldn't help but sound totally unenthusiastic.

"Hey Ryan. Are you okay?" questioned Zeke.

"Not really," Ryan didn't feel like explaining himself. "Sharpay is upstairs if you want to see her."

"Yeah," Zeke smiled. "Cheer up, dude." He gave Ryan a pat on the shoulder then ran up to see his girlfriend. Seeing how happy Zeke was to see Sharpay just reminded Ryan more of Gabriella. He should be with her, not Troy. Of course, Ryan could have told Gabriella that he wasn't comfortable with her going to the wedding, and she probably would have listened. But that would make Ryan look like a jerk. Ryan couldn't deal with the torture!

--

Meanwhile, Gabriella was watching the married couple dance. She pictured herself and Ryan on the dance floor together. Troy, who was standing next to her, nudged her. "What are you thinking about?" he wondered.

"Ryan," the truth popped out before Gabriella could think of something else to say.

"Oh," Troy looked away, bitterly. The next song came on, and it was an open floor dance. "Well, do you want to dance?" Troy wasn't sure if he was being too flirty, but he wanted to spend as much time with Gabriella as he could.

"Um… Maybe later," denied Gabriella. She retreated to the bathroom and called Ryan. "Come on, pick up." Quickly and impatiently, Gabriella tapped her foot. The phone rang too many times before Ryan finally picked up.

Ryan hadn't checked his caller ID, so he answered in an unhappy tone, "Hello?"

"Ryan, are you okay?" Gabriella asked, deeply concerned.

"What?!" exclaimed Ryan, very excited. "I-I'm fine… now."

"Do you miss me as much as I miss you?"

"Probably more. How is the wedding going?"

"Fine. It's just… I wish that you were here. That would make it incredible."

"Really?" Ryan turned bright red.

"Yeah. I sort of have to go, but I'll call you as soon as I can. Bye."

"Bye, Gabriella." Just talking to Gabriella made Ryan ecstatic. She truly was amazing.


End file.
